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April 16, 2007
I don't get it
How, exactly, do you run a marathon in space? Astronaut Sunita Williams found a way, but I somehow doubt it's the same as one run with that pesky gravity in the way:
Astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams started her version of the Boston Marathon on Monday, running on a treadmill 210 miles above Earth undeterred by the wind and rain lashing her Massachusetts counterparts.
Already traveling at 17,500 mph, Williams started the race on time at 10 a.m. EDT with race No. 14,000 taped to the front of the treadmill. Two laptop computers were on either side of the treadmill so she could watch a live feed of the race from Boston and keep track of where the international space station was flying.
Restrained to the treadmill in a harness so she wouldn't float away and wearing Boston Red Sox socks, Williams ran at a brisk pace at the start of the 26.2-mile race. Williams' sister, Dina Pandya, and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg were running in the race on the ground.
"Just want to let you know the team here is cheering for her and by our calculations she already has completed her 26 miles," Mission Control told her crew mate, Michael Lopez-Alegria, a few minutes into the race.
Man, I wish I was an astronaut. This is mostly because it would be cool to say I was an astronaut - I don't know much about flying space shuttles, though. So I don't know why I'd get picked. I have no science background, so they wouldn't want me for that. I don't even know how to drill holes, so I couldn't be one if an "Armageddon" type scenario arose. Oh well.
entry no. 822
Posted by oz115 at April 16, 2007 12:04 PM
Comments
Permission to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man I've ever met.
Get off the nuclear warhead!
Posted by: christy you know who at April 18, 2007 11:52 AM